Well, considering you’re either poking or doing large combo strings most of the time, I’d say it’s pretty detrimental to the gameplay.
Very rarely are you doing simple 2 hitters and things like that.

It’s especially bad for power links. The timing is tight enough on most already, but not only does this prevent you from using the sound as a queue, it actually throws you off, because it comes out completely off rhythm.

Fatalities happen randomly and only work if you’re playing with blood enabled. Usually if you finish them with a hard slash or a slashing special of some kind, they’ll get cut in half. There’s 2 types. One where they fall apart in the air and their weapon drops to the ground, and another where they fold and die slowly on the ground.

She has three follow-up options:
:qcf::snka: (:qcf::snkb: actually does less damage and has way more recovery time)
(Dash-in) :l::snka: > bread and butter if they quick recover (can be repeated x number of times).
(Dash past them) :snka::snkb:, :l::snkc:, :snkb: > Combo of your choice.
Basically, you cross them up even though you’re facing the wrong way. Very confusing visually, so it’s useful this way. It can be avoided by rolling far away enough though.

Another useful combo is just to finish with :df::snkc: instead of :snkb::snkc:. It’s safer on recovery than the :snkb::snkc: is since it’s not as easy to deflect. The two together make for some nice mix-ups.

Don’t use her :dp::snkb: move, and don’t use her :qcf::snkb: either.
I don’t use her :dp::snkc: much since you can’t actually combo into it. The only time it really has any use is if you know the person’s gonna try to low block, but even then I prefer :snkb::snkc: on most occasions because it has more follow-up options.

I haven’t had much reason to use her :hcf::snkc: either unless the person is being really predictable with jump-ins. I prefer just to use the regular deflect since I can get way more damage off it, at the cost of slightly pickier deflect timing.

For ground poking, use :d::snka: and standing :snka:.
Air poking, use :snka:

Get low jumping cross-up :snkb: down. Great way to pin down inexperienced opponents, if you just low cross-up slash with her over and over. It’s really hard to deflect and has a huge radius as well.

:snkb: is amazing ground anti-air but can be air parried by better players. It does a lot of damage on power, so it’s very useful for punishing predictable air recoveries.

Try dashing past someone on the ground, then using :snka::snkb: > :l::snkc: > :snkb: > Bread and butter. This should nail them when they get up if they don’t see the cross-up coming.

Just like anyone else, don’t use her super randomly. I know it might be tempting because it comes out so quickly, but it’s a good way to get yourself combo’d.

:d::snkb: has absolutely huge range, so use that to your advantage when playing footsies with someone. If you nail it, always follow up with :snkb::snkc:, her DM or :df::snkc: if you think you’re too far to follow up on the :snkb::snkc:.

She’s still good on power, but she loses her nasty mix-up potential, and her godly cancellable
:d::snkb:.
She’s a much more dangerous poker on power though. You have to be very careful air recovering around her, even if you can parry her :snkb: on the way down. That can easily get baited, and you can end up eating a super.
Dashing forward and sticking out a :snkb: is surprisingly good for stuffing jump-ins early as well since it comes out pretty fast. You have stagger block to your advantage on power as well, so in case it gets blocked, you’re not in too much trouble.

Her cross-up is godly as well. Easily one of the best in the game along with Mukuro, Zantetsu and Akari’s. Never ever try jump cancel dashing under her when she air recovers unless you’re planning to deflect after, because that shit can hit you even if it looks like you’re out of its hit box.
Low jump cross-up :snkb: mix-ups are nasty as well, although you can get out by just jumping straight up and then air recovering if you’re not confident that you can block long enough to retaliate/get out. Still, you can get some nice damage that way on less experienced players.

Also, be careful with her :df::snkb:, people can :snka: you when they get up, because the recovery on it sucks (but not as much as Setsuna’s) so make sure you don’t do it up close.

I picked up Last Blade 2 a couple weeks ago, and I must say it’s one of the best SNK fighters i’ve ever played. But, I have a question. What’s the general consensus regarding Shigen? I’m making him my main, and he seems like a beast. Also, what are some useful combos for him in speed mode?

Shigen’s more of a striker than a grappler on speed, so keep that in mind when you play him. Use jump :snka:/:snkc: to zone and look for openings to land his combos.
There are lots of ways to land his :hcf::snkb:, but all of them are fairly risky.

If you play him on power, his grabs are combo-able, and you’ll probably spend more time trying to land his throws since the pay off is better.

You can use :dp::snkb: and :qcb::snka:/:snkb: (dash-in :snkc::snkd:) to punish air recoveries.
Air throw anytime you get an air-parry and you’re close enough.
The :dp::snkb: can be especially useful since it does a lot of damage on power.

Whiffing his air throw and then deflecting after can be useful.

Miscellaneous crap

-:l::snka: is NOT cancellable on power.
-You can’t combo throws in speed mode.
-Never use his tackle outside of combos.
-You can tick throw with :snka:/:l::snka: > :hcf::snka: but it’s risky.
-Avoid his :qcb::snkb:
-Avoid his :l::snkb: for the most part as tempting as it might be to use it. It can be useful as a defensive mix-up on occasion.
-His DM counter (:hcf::l: :snka::snkb:) does really really broke ass damage. Unless he’s close to perfecting you, you’ll probably kill him if you catch him with this. It does not however counter grapples or low attacks, so don’t be too reckless with it.
When Shigen gets into flashing health, this move will cause your opponent will become much more defensive if they know what they’re doing.
-Low :snkb: is cancellable and has huge range, although it’s slow and can’t be linked off anything.
-Use dash-in :snkc::snkd: on grounded opponents whenever possible. They CAN ground recover from this, but you’re invincible for a split second after. Just be careful.
-You can break out of his chain throws by mashing the corresponding button that he’s using.
-Use jumping :snka: for air-air, jumping :snkc: for jump-ins. Try to avoid jumping :snkb: for the most part, it’s way too slow.
-Jumping :snkc: can cross-up.
-Whiff :hcb::r::snkc: for meter after using :snkc: on a downed opponent

The main thing people do wrong is try and play him like a grappler.
He’s a striker for the most part, although he is forced to use more grappling on power.

Do you have Aim Kyokuji? I Don’t really see you on GW anymore (then again i’m not on a whole hell of a lot with my work schedule either) and i’d like to get some more games going. Been working on my links a lot and i want to see if i’ve improved at all yet.

Hey Kyokuji! Teach me Last Blade! I’m on Kaillera all the time (name’s Kicks). Anywho I’m interested in all the characters, but Sestuna, Hibiki, Moriya, and Amano seem fun. Any stats/recommended type (speed/power) would be great!
Awesome post by the way… someone else needs to help you out with that barren wiki.

BTW…
Since you’re here, GGs the other day, Dracula_X. Didn’t mean to bail on ya.

Just tried this game last night and it’s awesome! the only character I really learned any moves for or anything is Zantetsu, and he seems AWESOME! if he’s not top tier, then this game has some powerfull ass characters.

Any tips for speed-Zan?

Which supers should I be using w/ him? Which mixups work well for him etc? Abusable moves? Im gonna play and check for these things myself, of course, but I always love learning the theory from experts on here.

Oh and callmeanewb refered to an easy infinite for Zan too? <listens closely>

Oh and callmeanewb refered to an easy infinite for Zan too? <listens closely>

Most of the infinites abuse some severe glitch in the system…using it on someone will get you kicked out of the game, and I believe they are all banned in tourney play. The glitch he refers to is mashing AC in the air I believe.

it’s not quite mashable, but pretty close. AC let’s you cancel jumping A into itself. so what happens is you float in the air next to your opponent cancelling j.A into itself. For it to be a true infinite you gotta be pretty good with the timing. Usually, i get about 16 hits before I fuck up or drop too far or get pushed back too much or something and I continue with a ground combo.

Use his dive conservatively. It has a ton of recovery lag on it. Best to low-jump with it if you’re going to use it. If you’re good, you can dash under someone who jumps straight up and then low-jump dive immediately to get them from behind. This is risky though, and it would require you to be able to read your opponent fairly well. It’s great for punishing attempted parries, anti-airs and air recoveries though.

-You can link :hcb::snka: off his air dive, just delay the motion a bit. It’s a good way to save your ass if it gets blocked, but again use the dive conservatively if at all.
-:hcb::snka: is combo-able, :hcb::snkb: is not.
-The other somewhat safe option is to follow up with :qcf::snka: and then quickly back off.
-You can combo his :hcf::snka::snkb: off his dive, but the timing is very strict. Can also be another good way to follow-up a blocked dive.
-Don’t be one of those idiots who constantly air dives and follows up with :dp::snka:.

Kagami is the one of the best pure poking characters in the game. His dash is exceedingly fast which allows him to get in and out quickly and his :d::snkc: is one of the fastest recovering long range lows in the game. His jump :snka: is one of the best air-air pokes in the game as well. Extremely quick, angled slightly upwards and has wayyy too much priority. His :snkc: can cross-up, but you gotta do it kind of early, and it’s fairly unreliable.

Get dash into his command throw down, it’ll help out a lot. Low dives can be useful, but they’re risky.
Use :dp::snka:/:dp::snkb: > :hcf::snka::snkb: or dives/DM’s/SDM’s to punish air recoveries.
Dash-in after any overhead launch or :dp::snka: hit to punish ground ones.
Punish ground recoveries on power and EX with:

(Dash-in) :l::snka: > :dp::snkb: > :hcf::snka::snkb:

He can jump cancel dash under people air recovering just like everyone else, but he can jump cancel into a low dive as well and then cancel it into something else if need be.

He’s best in power if you can hit the link consistently, but given it’s difficulty, you might opt to use EX instead. Being able to link into his DM from such a versatile poke adds ‘a lot’ to his game, especially since you can hit confirm it off multiple linked ones. Plus you still get access to his SDM for desperate situations.
Only problem is that meter doesn’t build nearly as fast in EX.

In speed, he’s still a fantastic poker, and you don’t have to worry about getting hit the way you do in EX.

Plus, he’s already good at punishing recoveries, but on EX and power he can cancel his :dp::snka: into his DM, which makes it suicidal to try and recover at all around him. Seriously, try it. You’ll get fucked in the ass.

Low-jump SDM can be useful as a desperation attack since it comes out almost instantly, but if you miss, you’re likely toast.

Miscellaneous crap

-He steps back a bit on his unblockable, and the coverage is more vertical than most, so it’s more useful than some of the other ones, but like all power unblockables, use them very very sparingly if at all.
-His SDM is only combo-able off his dive. It’s one of the few supers that can see some use outside of a combo.
-:r::snkb: is a great long range poke.
-Avoid using his :qcb::snkc:, it’s crap

any advice for playing power Juzoh? I used to play the NGPC version a lot, but seldomly play this game in the arcade. For some weird reason I get addict to Juzoh after I picked him in the arcade not long ago. Everytime I play LB2, Juzoh will become the only character I use. The problem is I have no idea about his match up, I pretty much beat down every beginner I faced and have no problem to fight the experienced players. Of course I know there are many pros out there I just havent meet yet, therefore I want to ask if there are anything I have to watch out for using Juzoh, and any tricks to improve his gameplay?

Also anyone lives in NYC? Last Blade 2 is in Chinatown Fair, but no one touch that game…

Juzoh is actually relatively low tier, because he is heavily reliant on being able to land his grapples, but tiers in LB2 are pretty subjective anyway (besides Yuki who struggles).

You’ll want to play him in power to take full advantage of the damage on his jumping :snkb:, and to make sure that when you do land a command throw, your opponent knows about it.

Unlike most other characters, Juzoh doesn’t have much in the way of combos, nor does he have any really effective power links, instead, you must learn how to zone with his jumping :snkb: and standing :snkb: and you must have a good mix-up game in order to be able to land his
:hcb::snkb: and :hcb::snka:.
So, he’s basically the only ‘true’ grappler in the game. Shigen is more of a striker mix and he’s not quite as mobile.

After landing a :hcb::snkb:, your options are:

:hcb::snka: (Grab them again and slam them into the ground)
>:qcf::snka: (Smack them around with the bat) > :hcb::hcb::snka::snkb: >:qcf::snkb: (If you have meter) (Do the last part just after the second stomp) (Though it’s a two part super, you don’t need to be at low life to use it)
>:qcf::snkb: (Stomp on them with the bat) (This does more damage than the :qcf::snka: variant on its own, but don’t get predictable by using the same one all the time)
>Do nothing (He smashes them away) (Can’t mash out of this one)

:qcf::snkb: (You get more damage for hitting them later. You’ll know because it’ll set them on fire)
>:qcf::snkc: > :u::snkb:

:qcf::snka::snkb: (If you have meter) (You get more damage for hitting them later. You’ll know because it’ll set them on fire))

You can escape from his :hcb::snka: follow-ups by mashing the appropriate button.
For example, if the person’s following up with :qcf::snka:, you mash A.
You can’t mash out of the DM follow-ups, or his striking ones.

Follow-ups for :qcf::snkc: (While you do have autoguard in this, you still take damage, and you can be thrown out of it)
>:dp::snka:/:snkb:
>:snkd:/:d::snkd:
>:hcb::snka:
>:qcf::qcf::snka::snkb:
>:r::l::snkc:
>:qcf::snka::snkb:
>:hcb::snkc:

Of these, the only ones that are ever really useful are :dp::snkb: :hcb::snka: and :snkd:/:d::snkd:

Your focus should not be on landing a throw from a combo though, but to find ways to land it on its own. You need to have a good short dash/dash throw game, and you need to be able to read your opponent well, since all they have to do is jump straight up to avoid it (but that’s where the :hcb::snka: version comes in handy).

Up close, you need to mix things up with his :d::snkc:, low-jump air normals and his command throw.
His :r::snkb: is fantastic for zoning as long as you’re careful with it. You can easily catch someone who was trying to dash-in, and it’s great for punishing whiffed attacks/combos from a distance.

Be aware that his :hcb::snka: has very poor priority and a lot of air attacks (especially ones jumping forward) will easily snuff it even if it looks like you should’ve got them (Reminds me a lot of Hugo’s mediocre anti-air throw). However if they’re jumping straight up and you’re right under them, you have a lot better chance of landing it.

Juzoh has some bad match-ups against people with fast ground/air pokes like Zantetsu and Lee. Moriya can also give him some trouble with his constant teleporting (assuming they know the glitch). An Okina who’s good at turtle zoning can be very irritating as well, although if you know Juzoh’s air game well enough it should be a pretty even match-up.

With speed Juzoh, you don’t have to rely as much on his command throw since he can now chain combo like everyone else, but the problem is, the damage on his combos is pretty average, and he doesn’t have a lot of variation to them, so all he really ends up being is a weaker version of the other characters on speed. You can still use his command throw and all that, but the damage is lessened by quite a bit.
As such, I feel it’s better to make up for his weaknesses by playing him like a grappler/zoner on power.

That being said, his :snkb::snkc: overhead on speed does give him some nice opportunities for landing his :hcb::snkb:, so you shouldn’t rule out speed Juzoh altogether, and he does gain quite a few more mix-up options on speed.

-:qcf::snkc: should be used very very sparingly. I only use it as a follow-up to one of the command throws to try and cross someone up as they’re getting up, but I rarely use it on more experienced players since it’s easy for them to block either way.
-His :dp::snka:/:snkb: will hit people on the ground but only if he’s close, and only in certain situations since both are quite slow. So it’s better just to use :u::snkb: most of the time instead.
-:dp::snkb: makes a good early anti-air since it has nice priority on it, but it’s quite slow so you’d have to have to seen a jump/jump-in coming already.
-His :hcb::snkc: is completely useless, stay away from it
-His :qcf::snkb: is also fairly poor outside of some occasional use for zoning.
-I would only use his :qcf::snka: as a follow-up if you happen to catch someone with a standing :snkb: somehow.
-His :r::l::snkc: unblockable can be somewhat useful on more inexperienced players, but there’s not much reason to use it instead of his overhead, and better players will likely just jump/throw/punish.
-You can hit his :hcb::snka: off a successful ground-air parry, but you gotta do it fast and they have to be relatively high in the air.
-:d::snkb: may look like a good anti-air but it’s not, don’t use it much.
-:snkb: can work as an anti-air, but it doesn’t work against a lot of air normals, and it’s highly dependant on what angle they’re coming from.
-:uf::snka: is your best late air-air. You can jump-in with it if you think they’re gonna jump straight up at the last second.
-:uf::snkc: is also alright as a jump-in/air-air.
-:uf::snkb: is your all purpose air normal. Great range, damage and priority. If you can low-jump reliably, this poke becomes quite godly.
-His unblockable has some nice horizontal range on it, but like all of them it’s slow and predictable so be careful with it.
-Like you would figure for a grappler in a game with a parry system, being able to deflect well adds a ton to your game with Juzoh, since it’s basically a free command throw for you.

Thanks, Kyokuji. I will try them. Oh, i want to ask the 63214A > 236A > 236236A+B timing. I never get it to work. Do I have to input the command as soon as possible or with timing like Shingen’s combo throw?